Censorship, budget… Social partners demand a return to “stability”

Seven of the eight representatives of employers’ and trade union organizations signed a joint statement this Tuesday, December 17, calling for the return of “stability” in a turbulent political and institutional sequence which began with the dissolution of the National Assembly in the spring and experienced its latest twist to date with the censorship of the Barnier government. This press release, very rare in its unity, is signed by Medef, CPME, U2P on the employer side, CFDT, FO, CFTC and CFE-CGC on the union side.

Only the CGT did not sign it. For its number one, Sophie Binet, “this text poses a problem because it places the responsibility for the economic crisis and layoffs on political instability”. However, these “are the result of the collapse of supply policy and the irresponsibility of large groups and employers”continues the leader. “The text obscures the fact that political stability requires responding to social demands”she continues.

Titled “for the attention of our elected officials and political leaders”and marked with the logos of all the signatory organizations, the press release notes that “the instability into which our country has fallen poses the risk of an economic crisis with dramatic social consequences”. “Already, investment projects are frozen, hiring intentions are revised, failures of companies of all sizes are increasing to the point of reaching a level unknown for a long time”.

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Concrete answers

“It is our duty to alert you to the risks that such instability generatesthey add. This is why we call, in the name of the trust that the millions of employees and business leaders that we represent place in us and the spirit of responsibility that guides us, to find the path to stability as quickly as possible, visibility and serenity.” The signatories also emphasize that “the path of paritarianism, which involves dialogue, collective negotiation and the construction of compromises, is capable of providing concrete responses” to this situation, recalling in “having recently demonstrated again”.

Mandated by Michel Barnier, censored on December 4 in the National Assembly, the social partners, who generally have a much more peaceful dialogue than politicians despite their divergent points of view, have for example found an agreement in recent weeks on the unemployment insurance.

“The social actors that we are”write the signatories, “are determined to participate fully in the transformations of our society, faced with a budgetary situation and unprecedented changes, whether technological, geostrategic, demographic or climatic”. Et “the social partners will, as always, be there for dialogue and responsibility”they conclude.

If this joint press release is a novelty, the different organizations have been separately sounding the alarm for several weeks on the economic and social risks generated by the instability of the current political situation.